


How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

by SuperstarMorgan



Series: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Songfic, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-03 23:33:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17293418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperstarMorgan/pseuds/SuperstarMorgan
Summary: You often daydreamed of a life past the clouds, of a life with aliens. When the chance to actually travel amongst the stars arises, you take it, leaving your life on Earth behind. Is all as it seems with this mad man and his blue box? Or are you in for more than you bargained for?





	How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> This story is also on my Tumblr if you would rather read it there: https://madboxwithagirl.tumblr.com/post/181256385404/how-big-how-blue-how-beautiful-chapter-1-how
> 
> Chapter Summary: You had always wanted to leave the Earth and live amongst aliens. Now, you get your chance to do so. 
> 
> Warnings: Minor Angst

Blue. What a lovely color. It was the color of the sapphires, the birds, the flowers. It was the shade of the rivers, lakes, oceans, and their inhabitants. But most importantly, it was the color of the big, beautiful sky that you stared at as you lay upon the hills. It was vast and endless with many mysteries beyond its reach. You watched as the fluffy, white clouds blocked out the blue and brought shadows over the world. The birds sang their little songs, their tweets distracting you from the noisy sounds of humanity.

You wanted to get away from the people. Yes, it was nice to have some friends and family within the massive group of humans, but you often found yourself wanting more than that. You wanted to go beyond your skies and see what was out in the stars. Was it true that there were other civilizations other than those on Earth? If so, how advanced were they? Did they take the shape of humans, or were they like the Martians with green skin and antenna?

Your eyes closed as you listened to the birds chirp and the wind blow, the soft noises slowly fading away as you lost yourself in a daydream. You imagined being taken in the night by men of a different species, a different galaxy, their little alien minds wanting to know more about you and your kind. They would take you to their home, show their people to you and you to their people. You would live amongst them, becoming one of them. You would learn their tongue and you would tell them stories of Earth. A life with the aliens.

You slowly opened your eyes and sighed softly, your little dream fading away. If there really were other lifeforms out there, what were your chances of you even being the one to meet them? And if you were lucky enough to get to greet them, who says that they would be kind creatures? For all you knew, they could come to take over, to steal resources, to destroy the planet. But, you hoped, they would be kind beings, wanting to learn more about the Earth and its inhabitants. You lazily watched the clouds go by, your melancholy state nearly making you get up and leave for the day.

You were glad that you stayed.

The blue of the sky and the white of the clouds suddenly seemed less interesting to you as you saw something of a darker blue begin to fall from out of nowhere. It was fast, spinning as it fell from the skies above. You stood as you watched its plummet, trying to determine where it was going to land. Drawing out a path in your mind, you began to run towards where you expected it to crash. What was it? Where did it come from? Was it dangerous? Should you even go towards it? Your mind ran nearly as fast as your legs did, every possible question finding a way in and out of your head.

After what seemed like forever (but was in fact only mere seconds), the strange object crashed into the ground, dirt and grass exploding into the air around it as the earth shook from the impact. Your run slowed into a slight jog as you neared the crash site, confused as to what was in front of you. Of all of the things you expected the object to be, what was in front of you certainly wasn’t one of them. There, on its side and covered in dirt, was a wooden box.

You blinked in confusion, knowing that something wasn’t quite right. It was just a police box from many decades prior, but it had appeared from the sky. Maybe a cargo plane had dropped it? But then why hadn’t you heard the plane? And why was this the only object that had fallen? You circled the box, trying to see if anything that surrounded it yielded any clues. When nothing of importance was found, you opted to see if the doors would open. Kneeling down, you tried to push them open. Nothing. Maybe they were meant to be pulled? You tried that to no avail.

You huffed, got back onto your feet, and looked towards civilization. Certainly someone would be checking in to see what had fallen from the heavens. If they hadn’t seen it fall, they would have heard or felt the crash. You decided to sit back down and wait until someone showed up. For some reason, you didn’t want to leave the box all on its own. You didn’t know why, but you felt a strange pull to the call box, one you couldn’t ignore. You knew you were meant to stay there with it.

You tried to focus on the sky yet again, but the beautiful color of the space box, as you had dubbed it, was far more interesting. The color reminded you of partially faded blue jeans, something you had never found particularly eye-grabbing, but now had your full attention. The paint, while certainly nowhere near new, didn’t seem as if was chipping. The crash hadn’t even seemed to damage the coat. In fact, the entire box seemed to be unharmed. How was that even possible?

Your questioning was interrupted when the doors suddenly flew open and a strange man, equally as strange as the box, emerged. You watched with wide eyes as he crawled his way out, noting the large interior behind him. What in the world?… When his body was finally out, he quickly stood and dusted off his clothing, the lovely blue suit now covered in dirt. He then turned around, looked at the space box, and crossed his arms.

“Sideways? _Really?_ What did I do to deserve a _sideways crash landing?_ ” The man sounded rather offended, because _how dare_ a strange box from outer space commit such a heinous act. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration before continuing. “ _And then_ you force me out and expect me to put you right-side up again! Why? What did I do? Is this because of… _her?_ ” His voice became less angry and more sad between the two words. What was going on?

You suddenly felt like you weren’t meant to be there. Maybe you should have left to find other people after all. Maybe it wasn’t too late to do so. You tried to back away slowly, trying not to draw attention from the strange man from the strange box. It was a failed mission from the start. He turned away from his box and saw you right away, a sad expression morphing into one of confusion. You froze, feeling as though you were a deer trapped in the headlights. You held your breath, suddenly scared of man.

He had come from space, meaning he was an alien. That was all you knew. Your hopes of meeting an alien species had been just that: hopes. Dreams of something that you never believed could ever happen. When the reality was put in front of you, you suddenly found that the idea of being taken away and brought to a planet that you didn’t know anything about was terrifying. Who knew what this humanoid-alien’s plans were? For all you knew, you were about to become a slave to a different species. Or perhaps you would be eaten, humans being a delicacy to this alien’s people. Or maybe you were to be taken and married off to royalty, the chosen human to produce a weird human/alien hybrid. Which fate was worse, you didn’t know. But you knew you wanted none of them.

You tried to make your legs work, tried to look away from the creature in front of you, anything. Your body was frozen in fear, unable to move at all. You could barely breathe, each inhale and exhale shaky and uneven. You were forced to stare at your would-be abductor, terrified of what was to come. You had to do something, anything, to try to get away from him. You took a deep, unsteady breath and willed yourself to speak.

“S-stay away from me!” You cursed yourself for the weakness of your voice, but you forced yourself to continue. “Get back in your box and leave! You’re not welcome here!” Your voice strengthened as you continued and you found that you were able to clench your fists and grit your teeth. “Whatever plans you have for us, you can forget about them! So crawl back into your weird space box and just get out of here!” Your words seemed to have no impact on him, his expression changing from confused to slightly amused. As he took a step towards you, your bravery slipped away and you cowered back, realizing that your little outburst may have sealed your fate.

What happened next wasn’t what you were expecting at all. His amused look fell and was replaced with one similar to the hurt expression that he had worn previously. He raised his hands, palms facing towards you to show he meant no harm. He backed up to his prior position for good measure.

“I’m not going to hurt you, alright? I have no ill intentions, I promise.” He gave a warm but weary smile, trying to prove his words as true. “My ship just decided to throw a temper tantrum and crash here, I swear. As soon as I get her upright again, I’ll be on my way, yeah?” He kept his voice as gentle as he possibly could, as if he was talking to a frightened animal, which in his case, he essentially was. While you were still scared of what capabilities the alien had at his disposal, his calm demeanor certainly made you feel a bit more at ease.

“Oh, well, go on then.” You gestured for him to go and push the box upright. The sooner he left, the better. He glanced at the ship before looking back at you, a hand reaching up to scratch the back of his neck. He then gave you a sheepish grin.

“Well, you see, this is more of a two-person job. Would you, uh, be willing to help?” A light blush appeared on his cheeks, the man obviously a bit embarrassed that he had to ask for help. “I understand if you don’t want to. I can call a friend of mine for he-“

“No!” You shouted out against your will, but you didn’t care. You didn’t want anymore alien creatures coming down to help. While this one seemed to be peaceful, others may not be so kind. “I’ll help. But no funny business, got it?” You gave your best glare, trying to appear as intimidating as you possibly could. He nodded and smiled softly, agreeing to your terms.

“Right. So come over here to this side.” He moved towards the top of the ship, leaving a space for you to join in. You slowly made your way over, eyeing him to ensure that he wouldn’t do anything shady. “Okay, so if I lift here and you lift there, we should have her up in no time.” He pointed to the corners against the ground, which were, surprisingly, mostly above ground.

“Just how heavy is this thing? Is it really light enough for a human and a…whatever you are to lift?”

“Time Lord. And yes, with the two of us, it should be fairly simple. Just grab ahold of it like so,” he bent down and grabbed the corner, prompting you to do the same, “and…lift!” The creature was completely lying about it being a simple task. The box was far heavier than it looked and it took quite a number of tries to get it upright again. By the time you finished, you were breathing heavily and covered in sweat. You sat down and leaned against the box, trying to catch your breath.

“See, not bad at all!” You narrowed your eyes and looked at the alien, who didn’t even break a sweat during the ordeal. “Come on now, don’t give me that look. We got her upright, didn’t we?” He flashed you a toothy grin, which, while irritating, was quite amusing. You shook your head and took in a few more breaths before standing back up and wiping the sweat off of your forehead.

“While I’ve quiet enjoyed this unpaid hard labor, I believe it’s time for you to leave.” You stepped back and crossed your arms, waiting for him to go back inside and leave. A look of hurt flashed across his face but he quickly replaced it with a neutral expression.

“Ah, yes, I suppose you’re right. Are you sure you don’t want to pop inside for a moment and get a drink of water? I know how fragile you humans are.” Your jaw dropped open at his rather rude comment. How _dare_ he?

“ _Fragile?_ Need I remind you that, even with me helping, you were barely able to get that box right-side up again? Sure, it may have been strenuous on me, but without me, you would have been stuck here! And how exactly were you supposed to be able to call for help with a sideways ship? I doubt you would have been able to reach a control panel like that. You would have been trapped here all alone.” As those last words left your lips, the sad look that he held when you first saw him returned. He swallowed and nodded his head.

“Yes, well, I suppose you’re right. Thank you for your help. I’ll be getting out of your way now.” He quickly entered his ship, not even giving you a proper goodbye. Your eyes softened as you looked at the closed doors, realizing that your words had caused him some sort of pain. He had seemed fine until your last sentence. What did you say that hurt him? You thought for a moment, knowing that you had said that he would have been stuck on Earth all on his own. Maybe he was scared of being alone? You suddenly remembered what he had said when he had first crawled out of the ship. Something about a her? Who was this mysterious girl that had made him feel so much hurt? She obviously wasn’t around, meaning he was by himself. You sighed at your realization. You hadn’t meant to hurt him, really.

 _Maybe I should go in and apologize_ , you thought. Most of your fears about the alien had left you. He truly seemed like a decent being and didn’t seem to have any desire to cause mayhem. While you were a tad bit nervous about getting close to the ship’s entrance, you decided that you needed to get over it and be a bigger person. You took a deep breath and approached the doors, raising a closed fist to knock on them. As you moved your knuckles forward, the doors suddenly opened, causing your fist to collide with the alien’s face instead of the ship.

“Why!?” he exclaimed as a hand rushed up to sooth the spot you hit.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I was trying to knock on the door! Are you alright?” You grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his face so you could examine where you hit him, looking for any noticeable bumps or bruises. Instead, you found yourself looking over his entire face. This was your first good look at him, and you had to admit, he was a pretty good looking alien. His outward appearance was very much human, making you momentarily forget that he wasn’t one. His eyes were a soft brown, the kind that changed colors depending on the light. He had small freckles on his cheeks, the little marks being so light and tiny that they were nearly impossible to see. His brown hair was wild, making you wonder if it was naturally like that or if he had done something to give it its unruliness. His lips looked incredibly soft, incredibly inviting. They made you almost want to…

“You seem fine!” you said and quickly stepped back, trying to hide the face that you were checking him out and only a second away from making out with him. “I don’t see any bruises or marks or anything, so you should be fine. I really am sorry. I was trying to knock on the door, but you opened it at just the right time. Well, the wrong time.” You looked down, feeling guilty for hitting his very beautiful face.

“Hey now, don’t look so sad. I’m fine, right?” You glanced up at him, seeing a comforting smile on his face. “Don’t you worry about it, okay? It’s my fault for not checking to see if you were still out there before opening the door.” You gave him a soft smile before chuckling a bit.

“You had a bit of an overreaction to that, honestly. It couldn’t have hurt you _that_ badly.”

“Oi!” He pouted at your comment.

“Ohh, I get it now. It hurt your _ego_!” You laughed at his scowl, the man seeming very childish in that moment.

“Ha ha ha, go ahead, laugh at the hurt Time Lord more why don’t you?” His scowl fell as he began to laugh along with you, happy that you didn’t seem as afraid of him anymore. As your laughter slowly faded, you began to wonder why he had wanted to come back outside.

“So…Did you forget something out here? Why haven’t you taken off yet?” He furrowed his brow, thinking about the questions for a moment. He then snapped his fingers, remembering why he was still on Earth.

“Right! Well, the old girl doesn’t seem to want to leave. I’ve done some scans and there’s nothing out of the ordinary here, so there’s really no reason why I still need to be here.” He turned around and glared at the console. “And she hasn’t apologized for making us crash land. What, a normal landing wasn’t enough for you? Bloody machine.” The box made some beeping noises in return, making you jump.

“Wait, what? Is this ship _sentient?_ ” He turned back towards you, looking annoyed. You worried that it was at you and your question.

“Oh, yes! This ship has quite the mind of her own. Sometimes wish it didn’t though,” he mumbled. Ah, so the annoyance was at the ship, not at you. He turned once more and walked towards the console. “Now what exactly have I done to make you act this way? I feel like I deserve a solid answer since you nearly caused me to regenerate!” The ship beeped back at him, his shoulders slouching as she continued on. “Ah, so it _was_ her. I see…”

You felt a strong urge to go and try to comfort him, especially since you still felt guilty for the comment about him being alone. You looked around outside, wondering if it would be the last time you would get to see Earth and all of its beauty. You looked at the big, blue sky, remembering all of your daydreams about meeting aliens and joining them in space. You didn’t know what the next few minutes would lead to, but you hoped for the best. Facing forward, you took a deep breath and stepped onto the ship, closing the doors behind you. You walked over towards the man and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” you asked, your voice as soothing as you could make it. He turned his head to look at you, giving you a sad smile.

“Nah, don’t worry about me too much. The TARDIS just doesn’t like traveling with only me on board. I assume she made me crash here so I could find someone else to become my traveling companion.” A hand went up to tug on his ear, his brown eyes suddenly avoiding you. “I, uh, believe that she wants you to travel with us.” You blinked once, twice.

“ _Me?_ ” you questioned. “But why me? I’m just a human. I’m nothing special.” He turned to you and placed his hands firmly on your shoulders, his face serious.

“Now, don’t you say such a thing. You may be a human, but that doesn’t mean you’re not special. The TARDIS chose you for a reason.” Your eyes began to shy away from him, the intensity of his stare making you uncomfortable. You felt a hand leave your shoulder and find your chin instead, forcing you to look back at him. “You are a very special human…err…” He paused for a moment, not knowing how to continue. “I just realized that I don’t know your name. That was rather silly of me not to ask, wasn’t it?” He pulled back and smiled at you, sticking his hand out. “Well, my name is the Doctor. Pleased to meet ya!” You smiled back and took his outstretched hand, shaking it as you told him your own name. “Well then, _you_ are a very special human being,” he repeated, following the statement up by your name.

“Now, why are you special you may ask? Well, usually _I_ am the one who chooses who gets to travel the universe with me. But you, oh you, were chosen by the TARDIS. That’s a rare occurrence. So, what do you say? How would you like to travel with me? Anywhere, anywhen?” He looked at you expectantly, a nervous look in his eyes. He desperately wanted someone else to accompany him. He had been alone for so long, and now he had a chance to remedy that. Thinking back on your daydreams, you decided that, as long as they were with this man, you wanted those daydreams to become your reality. You gave him the biggest smile you could muster and nodded.

“Yes, I would love to travel with you, Doctor.” His face lit up at your confirmation before he quickly abandoned your side, running around the console, messing with levers and buttons as he went.

“Brilliant! Oh, there’s so many amazing places to show you! And I have the perfect idea for what our first destination will be!” Rushing back over to you, he placed his hand on one of the levers before looking at you. “Ready?” You nodded again, your grin never leaving your face. He smiled back before pulling down the lever. “Alright then! Allons-y!”

 

_And meanwhile a man was falling from space,_

_As he hit the earth I left this place._

**Author's Note:**

> As always, any and all feedback is welcome!


End file.
